Faded Glory
by sundrymunity
Summary: Wounded and alone, a young Holy Roman Empire reminiscences on his life.


The trees had been there for as long as he could remember, for centuries or perhaps _millenniums_ before he was born onto the Earth, and the sun that shone through their canopy had been there even longer. As he looked up, he could see images that his mind didn't quite recognize, faded memories of times long past in his life. He leaned against a large tree, and finally let himself slump to the ground. The weight of the battles, of his country crumbling, or _everything_ had been sitting on his shoulders, and finally let himself relax in the shadows of the forest. He shivered, suddenly aware how cold it had gotten within the hours he had trekked into the forest to find this spot, the one his Bruder had told him about. The spot that a strange giant was said to have found him as a small babe and taken him home to be cared for. The giant was like the memories of the leaves above him, faded and unremembered in their glory of the seasons. Sunlight washed over his face briefly as the wind blew and gently pulled the leaves back and forth, a dance that nature knew and Man once did too. Before they abandoned it for bloodshed. He shook this thought from his mind, not wanting to remember the wounds he was bleeding at, the deep cuts in his armor nor the tattered edges of his cloak, which he pulled tighter around himself to ward off the chill.

He closed his eyes.

He didn't think he would be able to open them again, and he believed this even more when all he saw as darkness. Then the wind pulled back the leaves again in their waltz, the moon lit the ground where the sun had once done the same. He groaned as he leaned forward, away from the ancient tree and the memories it kept inside, and wondered how long he had slept for. Judging from the stiffness and soreness of his body, he figured only a couple hours or so. His men would be looking for him. They needed a leader. But their leader was just a child, not the adult they longed for. He stood up with broken hopes and a dream with figures he could not put his finger on, their familiarity strange and fascinating to him. The leaves laid silent under his feet, softening the ache of his blistered feet and holding his suffering upon their wilting bodies. He stopped, leaning against a tree in an effort to support himself. The sleep had left him drained, a body with no soul, and he could feel himself falling. The tree held him close however, and supported his limp body.

_A giant picked him up and put him on one shoulder, his Bruder on the other. But his Bruder looked... smaller? How strange, he mused, considering he was the older of them. The man took a step that seemed to go over the mountains on which he had played, their small and fierce combatants always ready for a fight, and the trees which he had laid in, their soft texture carrying a number of small friends within them. His Bruder laughed as the man walked, going has fast as the birds that flew through the sky it seemed, and flashed a grin over the tall man's head of gold. After a while, they came to a house he recognized as his own before Bruder had built over it, the thatch roof supported by carefully chopped wood._

_ The Giant laid them both in a bed, soft with the down of birds found in the forest and the furs of animals slain. He pulled the warming blanket over the both of them and left. Bruder turned away from him and curled up tight, the nightmares creeping from the shadows to overtake the boys as they slept. So he did not sleep. He slipped from the blankets onto the cold floor, silently walking across them to another room. The giant, who he now realized was from memory that had faded so long ago, looked up from repairing a hole in one of Bruder's clothes and at him. They stared at each other, before he climbed into the bed with the giant and leaned against him. The giant wrapped an arm around him to keep him steady, and continued his work._

With a sudden jolt he stood at attention, not realizing he had fallen asleep against the tree. When the wind blew, his face was cold. He touched it. Wetness. He had been... crying? But why? He didn't know. The dream was as faded as the memories, so he chose to simply ignore it and the tears it brought and went on. The trees grew thinner as he reached the end of it, and he was hesitant to return to the camps. Here, in this forest, he felt safe. He felt as if he belonged here, like how Bruder had described a feeling akin to that of one when they were with family. The weight of responsibility quietly laid itself upon his shoulders once again as he strode onto the field, towards the fires that burned so brightly in the dark.


End file.
